Biology

Physiology

Steelix are a lustrous, silvery gray. They are about 30 feet long. Their body is made up of rock-like sections, three of which have massive rock spikes coming out of them. They have a massive head mainly made up of their jaw. The jaw is large and wide with sets of large square teeth inside. Along their bottom jaw are a pair of ridges (varies with gender). Their eye sockets are slightly set in, giving them good eye protection. Underneath their bottom jaw and chin, on the underside of the jaw, there are small square domes. Their heads have two long ridges going from the eyes up to the top of their heads. Their jaws also have massive ridges where they meet their skull. Their tail ends in a long sharp point, but with a blunt tip. Steelix's rock-like sections don't look perfect and can easily be mistaken for rocks, for they have many chips and scrapes all along them from fights and tunneling.

Gender differences

A male Steelix has two pairs of sharp ridges on each side of its bottom jaw, one big one and one slightly smaller one. A female Steelix has only one pair of ridges on either side of its bottom jaw, each the approximate size of the male's larger ridges.

Special abilities

Steelix has a body that is stated to be harder than diamond. They can create Sandstorms by spinning their body in circles, and they can tighten and harden their tail to attack.

Behavior

Steelix are rather rash and often charge into situations without thinking about the consequences of their actions. Often if they are disturbed, they will attack anything rather than just the actual being responsible for disturbing them. They are usually aggressive towards other Pokémon that happen to live in the area they are living in. Steelix are very tenacious; they don't give up until they are beaten and are often adamant about their choice of action. Steelix like to burrow underground and prefer to live inside mountains or on mountains, or even caves.

Habitat

Although Steelix require an item to evolve from Onix, they can be sometimes be found in the wild, where they populate deep caverns, tunnels, and an old temple in the Sinnoh region and a cliffside cave in the Johto region. As they live far underground, miles from the surface, they don't often surface above ground unless provoked. It is said that when an earthquake happens, multiple Steelix are battling far below the surface.

In Dealing With Defensive Types!, a Steelix belonging to Byron was used in the Gymbattle against Ash. It put up a tough fight, defeating Ash's Buizel, despite its type advantage and then fought against Ash's Chimchar. Despite its exhaustion from its earlier battle, Chimchar was able to defeat Steelix after a prolonged battle.

In the manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

In Pokémon Adventures, Jasmine used a Steelix disguised as an Onix in the Gym Leader's Tournament of the opening ceremonies in the Pokémon League. Brock's Onix tightened its grip on the hidden steel Pokémon, but against the unusual hardiness of its evolution, it only hurt itself, and was eventually defeated after Steelix's stone "hide" scraped off and it was exposed. Jasmine explains that because it was a newly discovered species only so far uncovered by Crystal's capture, she tried to hide its identity in the hopes that it wouldn't be treated as simple eye candy for curious spectators. Years later, Carr of the Team Rocket beast trio used one against Red's Poli as they clashed in the Sevii Islands. It was swung aside rather easily as it was interrupted in its rampage, and after a failed Iron Tail, it was beaten by a smart Mind Reader maneuver. Another was on Iron Island and was used for training with Riley.

In the TCG

Other appearances

Trophy information

A combination of Steel- and Ground-types, Steelix are the longest Pokémon yet to be discovered, reaching over 30 feet in length. Since they live so deep under the surface of the earth, the intense pressure has made their bodies stronger than diamonds. Evolved from Onix, Steelix is every bit as intimidating as its relative.

Game data

NPC appearances

Pokémon Ranger

Steelix is a boss in Pokémon Ranger. After being enraged by the Go-Rock Squad, it rampages through Panula Cave until the player captures it with their Styler.

Steelix and Altaria are the only dual-type Pokémon that change their primary type during evolution.

While Steelix's Pokédex descriptions often mention diamond-like composition or that it evolved using iron from the soil it eats, it should be noted that actual diamonds are made primarily out of carbon. (though iron may be included as an impurity)

Steelix is the one of two Pokémon that evolve via trade and is available in the wild in Generation IV. The other is Gengar.

Origin

Steelix, like Onix, is most likely based on a combination of a snake and earthworm. It may also been based on the wyrm, a type of dragon that has been presented as limbless and burrowing.

Name origin

Steelix is a combination of steel and onyx. It may also refer to helix (with regards to its serpentine body).